Samata Party denies lobbying for Jadeja

Tara Shankar Sahay  in Delhi

Samata Party general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday denied that any party leader had met Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Uma Bharti to lobby against perceived punitive action against cricketer Ajay Jadeja, an accused in the match-fixing scandal.

"None of our party leaders had met the minister of sports and youth affairs to lobby against anticipated punitive action against any of the cricketers accused of being involved in match-fixing," Singh told reporters.

He denied that his senior party colleague and defence minister George Fernandes had on Friday met Bharti to exert pressure on her that Jadeja should either be absolved or should be allowed to get away with a light `punishment'.

A news report had on Thursday pointed out that Fernandes had met Bharti and lobbied hard with her -- that Jadeja should be, at the most, allowed to get away "with a slap on the wrist".

Significantly, the minister of sports and youth affairs underscored that she is not in favour of any of the "guilty" being allowed to go without punishment. Bharti also criticised the Central Bureau if Investigation for delaying action against those it had found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

"I don't like the idea of the CBI delaying action against them (the cricketers whom the CBI thinks are involved in the match-fixing). If the concerned authorities are certain about their involvement, the guilty I think should be punished," Bharti pointed out.

Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitley, who had been staunchly defending Jadeja, ever since his name surfaced in the match-fixing scandal, was not available for comment.

A party worker, Anil Hegde, told rediff.com at the defence minister's Krishna Menon Marg residence (where the Samata Party holds its press conferences) that Jaitley is "away in Gurgaon for a party meeting and she will be delayed".

The Samata Party general secretary's denial about any of its party members allegedly lobbying for a light punishment to Jadeja appears to have again given a new twist to the entire match-fixing controversy.

Significantly, Jaitley had earlier also denied that Jadeja had been engaged to her daughter, Aditi. However, her staunch defence of Jadeja has left a trail of mystery why the Samata party chief has been defending the cricketer.

A foreign news agency had recently reported that former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin is set to be banned for life and Jadeja is likely to receive a year's suspension from playing for their alleged role in match-fixing.

The foreign agency also quoted sources as saying that former players Manoj Prabhakar and Ajay Sharma would be banned from having any official role in Indian cricket while Nayan Mongia, another accused, would be exonerated as the CBI found no evidence of wrongdoing against him.

Mail Cricket Editor